I have been awaiting the release of Google’s first web browser, called Chrome, since news of its pending release exploded everywhere yesterday.  Seems they accidentally sent the announcement of Chrome a bit early, and some bloggers ran with the story.

Since then, I’ve been checking the supposed download page regularly, and until a few moments ago, it was a dead link.

Now, however, the Beta download of Google Chrome is available–in fact, I’m writing this post via Chrome.  For some of the uninitiated… a “beta test” is an early version that is likely to be buggy and unstable–we’re not recommending you download it just yet.  Here, in random order, are my initial thoughts and first impressions:

• Upon install, Chrome tries to import settings from your current default browser (Firefox for me), and I experienced an error with that which crashed Chrome.  Oops.  When I restarted it, however, the settings had been imported just fine.  This is nice because all my browser-stored passwords were already remembered.  Sweet.
• Google is claiming that Chrome is faster and more secure.  At this point, however, it’s not visibly any faster than Firefox.  In fact, it seems to take a fraction of a second longer to load a page than Firefox 3 (which is pretty darn fast to begin with).
• I love the trimmed down nature of Chrome.  It’s really no-frills in terms of UI, and the lack of bloat, combined with the tabs being on top of the window instead of below the address bar means you see more of the page than ever before.  I’m a big Netvibes user, and have several feeds on several tabs… and Chrome allows me to see and scan even more of my favorite content than Firefox or IE.  Right off the bat, this is a great feature and will probably keep me using Chrome a lot more.
• My coworker also downloaded Chrome, and he got a strange, glitchy look to his windows… with a mirrored sliver of the on-page content showing up in duplicate on the right next to the scroll bar.  It also wouldn’t let him scroll.  Hey… it’s a Beta release.  I’m sure they’ll find and promptly fix stuff like this… and I’m not sure what my friend might have running on his machine that may have contributed to it.
• I like the idea of the “incognito” window.  There’s plenty of concern online these days with privacy, especially where Google is concerned.  And while it may seem odd to simply trust Google when they say that “incognito” browsing never stores anything anywhere… the project is open-source.  That will allow for some checks and balances regarding how well the shielded browsing function works.
• I also love the feature where a crash only closes the current tab instead of the whole browser.  I was able to browse to a site I know crashes browsers (a site we’re currently developing) and the crash did, indeed, close only the open tab and not the entire browser.  That is a fantastic addition that cannot be overstated if you’re a power-browser.

All in all, the first few minutes of testing it out have been a postiive experience for me.  I am unashamed of the fact that I use and love tons of Google products beyond search (docs, gears, calendars, gmail, and more), so maybe you can label me a homer.  But better competition in the browser market is nothing but good for the consumer.

For Firefox, however, it’s probably a very bad day.  Google has long been a top financial supporter of Firefox (through an arrangement with the Google Toolbar).  I don’t think Firefox is destined to die or anything–they have a rabid fan base.  But they’re definitely going to need to seek dollars from new sources if Chrome gains any foothold on the market.

And this is a clear step from Google to infringe on Microsoft’s territory.  Should be interesting to see how it impacts that rivalry as well.

Stay tuned.  I’ll be playing with it more in the coming days and will be sure to update you on my findings.

UPDATE: So upon further testing… there are a lot of reports that the Chrome browser is a memory hog, slowing down your machine’s performance.  It browses the web fast enough… but I personally have seen it clog up my PC resources and slow down all programs.  I’m sure this is not the same for everyone, and I’m guessing it’ll be fixed as testing continues.  But for now, it’s reason enough to keep me from using it regularly.